Blackford Hill

Blackford Hill lies 2 miles (3 km) south of the centre of Edinburgh and rises to 164m (539 feet). Prominently located on the hill is the green-domed Royal Observatory, which includes the Institute for Astronomy of the University of Edinburgh. The grand red sandstone archway at the entrance to Observatory Road was built in 1887 to commemorate Sir George Harrison, Lord Provost and Member of Parliament for Edinburgh South, who had died two years previously. It was Harrison who facilitated the purchase of 43 ha (107 acres) of the hill by the city from Lt. Colonel Henry Trotter of Mortonhall in 1884 for the sum of £8000 to make it available as a public park.

Blackford Hill is composed of Lower Devonian lavas, erupted around 410 million years ago, lying beneath Upper Devonian sandstones, laid down in a semi-arid environment 370 million years ago. These rocks represent a the northernmost extension of the type of rock which forms the Pentland Hills. Thus, geologically, this hill is rather different from the Carboniferous volcanic plugs and intrusions which form the remainder of Edinburgh's hills (with the exception of the Braid Hills). Also of geological interest is Agassiz Rock, situated close by in Blackford Glen, which was the first evidence of the action of glaciers to be found in Scotland, recognised by the Swiss geologist Louis Agassiz (1807-73).